LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Shelf ._0-^X 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



,ov.o'""° »«., 



FOR 



Steel Workers 



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Crescent Steel Co. 

V^' 136 FIRST AV^^^^^ii^ 

PITTSBUR6H;f>P^. 26 iB^^ J y / 



NEW YORK CHICAGO 

4S0 Pearl Street 64-e)6 S. Clinton St 



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Copyright 1890, 

By 

Crescent Steel Co. 



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FOSTER ROE 4. CRONE 



ANNEALING 

/^ WING to the fact that the operations of roll- 
^-^ in.a^ or hammering steel make it very hard, it 
is frequently necessary that the steel should be an- 
nealed before it can be conveniently cut into the 
required shapes for tools. 

Annealing or softening is accomplished by 
heating steel to a red heat and then cooling it very 
slowly, to prevent it from getting hard again. 

The higher the degree of heat, the more will 
steel be softened, until the limit of softness is 
reached when the steel is melted. 

It does not follow that the higher a piece of steel 
is heated the softer it will be when cooled, no 
m.atter how slowly it may be cooled ; this is proved 
by the fact that an ingot is always harder than a 
rolled or hammered bar made from it. 

Therefore, there is nothing gained by heating 
a piece of steel hotter than a good, bright, cherry 

5 



ANNEALING 

red ; on the contrary, a higher heat has several 
disadvantages : First — If carried too far, it may 
leave the steel actually harder than a good red 
heat would leave it. Second — If a scale is raised 
on the steel, this scale will be harsh, granular 
oxide of iron, and will spoil the tools used to cat 
it. It often occurs that steel is scaled in this 
way, and then, because it does not cut well, it is 
customary to heat it again, and hotter still, to 
overcome the trouble, while the fact is, that the 
more this operation is repeated, the harder the 
steel will work, because of the hard scale and the 
harsh grain underneath. Third — A high scaling 
heat, continued for a little time, changes the 
structure of the steel, destroys its crystalline prop- 
erty, makes it brittle, liable to crack in hardening 
and impossible to refine. 

Again, it is common practice to put steel into 
a hot furnace at tHe close of a day's work and 
leave it there all night. This method always gets 
the steel too hot, always raises a scale on it, and, 
worse than either, it leaves it soaking in the 
fire too long, and this is more injurious to steel 
6 



ANNEALING 

than any other operation to which it can be sub- 
jected. 

A good illustration of the destruction of crys- 
talline structure by long continued heating may 
be had by operating on chilled cast iron. 

If a chill be heated red hot and removed from 
the fire as soon as it is hot, it will, when cold, 
retain its peculiar crystalline structure; if now it 
be heated red hot, and left at a moderate red for 
several hours — in short, if it be treated as steel 
often is, and be left in a furnace over night, it 
will be found, when cold, to have a perfect amor- 
phous structure, every trace of chill crystals will 
be gone, and the whole piece will be non-crystal- 
line gray cast iron. If this is the effect upon coarse 
cast iron, what better is to be expected from fine 
cast steel ? 

A piece of fine tap steel, after having been in 
a furnace over night, will act as follows : 

It will be harsh in the lathe and spoil the cut- 
ting tools. 

When hardened it will almost certainly crack; 
if it does not crack it will have been a remarka- 



ANNEALING 

bly good steel to begin with. When the temper 
is drawn to the proper color and the tap is put 
into use, the teeth will either crumble off or crush 
down like so much lead. 

Upon breaking the tap, the grain will be coarse 
and the steel brittle. 

To anneal any piece of steel, heat it red hot ; 
heat it uniformly and heat it through, caking care 
not to let the ends and corners get too hot. 

As soon as it is hot, take it out of the fire, the 
sooner the better, and cool it as slojyly as possi- 
ble. A good rule for heating is to heat it at so low 
a red that when the piece is cold it will still show 
the blue gloss of the oxide that was put there by 
the hammer or the rolls. 

Steel annealed in this way will cut very soft ; 
it will harden very hard, without cracking, and 
when tempered it will be very strong, nicely re- 
fined, and will hold a keen, strong edge. 



HEATING TO FORGE 

"T^ ULLV as much trouble and loss are caused b}^ 
-l improper heating in the forge fire as in the 
tempering fire, although steel may be heated safely 
very hot for forging if it be done properly ; but 
ANY hi(;h degree of heat, no matter how uni- 
form it may be, is unsafe for hardemnc;. 

The trouble in the forge fire is usually UN- 
KVEN HEAT, and not too high heat. Suppose the 
piece to be forged has been put into a very hot 
fire, and forced as quickly as possible to a high 
yellow heat, so that it is almost up to the scintil- 
lating point. If this be done, in a few minutes 
the outside will be quite soft and in nice condi- 
tion for forging, while the middle parts will be 
not more than red hot. The highly heated soft 
outside will have very little tenacity : that is to 
say, this part will be so far advanced toward fu- 
sion that the particles will slide easily over one 
another, while the less highly heated inside parts 
will be hard, possessed of high tenacity, and the 

9 



HEATING TO FORGE 

particles will not slide so easily over each other. 

Now let the piece be placed under the hammer 
and forged, and the result will be as shown in 
figure I. 

The soft outside will yield so much more read- 
ily than the hard inside that the outer particles 
will be torn asunder, while the inside will remain 
sound, and the piece will be pitched out and 
branded " burned." 

Suppose the case to be reversed and the inside 
to be much hotter than the outside : that is, tTiat 
the inside shall be in a state of semi-fusion, while 
the outside is hard and firm. 

Now let the piece be forged and we shall have 
the case as shown in figure 2. The outside will 
be all sound and the whole piece will appear per- 
fectly good until it is cropped, and then it is found 
to be hollow inside, and it is pitched out and 
branded " burst." 

In either case, if the piece had been heated 
soft ALL THROUGH, or if it had been only red hot 
ALL THRoiH^H, it would have forged perfectly 
sound and good. 

ID 



HEA'l ING TO F(JRGE 




FIGURE I 




FIGURE 2 



II 



HEATING TO FORGE 

If it be asked, why then is there ever any ne- 
cessity for smiths to use a low heat in forging, 
when a uniform high heat will do as well? We 
answer — 

In some cases a high heat is more desirable to 
save heavy labor, but in every case where a fine 
steel is to be used for cutting purposes, it must 
be borne in mind that very heavy forging refines 
the bars as they slowly cool, and if the smith heats 
such refined bars until they are soft, he raises the 
grain, makes them coarse, and h^ cannot get 
them fine again unless he has a very heavy steam 
hammer at command and knows how to use it 
well. 

In following the above hints there is a still 
greater danger to be avoided : that is incurred by 
letting the steel lie in the fire after it is properly 
heated. When the steel is hot through it should 
be taken from the fire immediately and forged as 
quickly as possible. 

" Soaking " in the fire causes steel to become 
" dry " and brittle, and does it more injury than 
any bad practice known to the most experienced. 

12 



HEATING 

/~\WING to varying instructions on a great 
^~^ many different labels, we find at times a good 
deal of misapprehension as to the best way to 
heat steel ; in some cases this causes too much 
work for the smith, and in other instances disas- 
ters follow the act of hardening. There are three 
distinct stages or times of heating : 

First, for forging. 

Second, for hardening. 

Third, for tempering. 

The first requisite for a good heat for forging 
is a clean fire and plenty of fuel, so that jets of 
hot air will not strike the corners of the piece ; 
next, the fire should be regular, and give a good 
uniform heat to the whole part to be forged. It 
should be keen enough to heat the piece as rap- 
idly as may be, and allow it to be thoroughly 
heated through, without being so fierce as to over- 
heat the corners. 

13 



HEATING 

Steel should not be left in the fire any longer 
than is necessary to heat it clear through, as 
" soaking " in fire is very injurious ; and on the 
other hand it is necessary that it should be hot 
through to prevent surface cracks, which are 
caused by the reduced cohesion of the overheated 
parts, which overlie the colder center of an irreg- 
ularly heated piece. 

By observing these precautions a piece of steel 
may always be heated safely, up to even a bright 
yellow heat, when there is much fjjrging to be 
done on it ; and at this heat it will weld well. 

The best and most economical of welding 
fluxes is clean, crude borax, which should be first 
thoroughly melted and then ground to a fine pow- 
der. Borax prepared in this way will not froth on 
the steel, and one-half of the usual quantity will do 
the work as well as the whole quantity unmelted. 

After the steel is properly heated, it should be 
forged to shape as quickly as possible, and just as 
the red heat is leaving the parts intended for cut- 
ting edges, these parts should be refined by rapid 
light blows, continued until the red disappears. 
14 



HEATING 

For the second stage of he^iting, for hardening, 
great care should be used ; first, to protect the 
cutting edges and working parts from heating 
more rapidly than the body of the piece ; next, 
that the whole part to be hardened be heated 
uniformly through, without any part becoming 
visibly hotter than the other. A I'MForm heat, 
as low as will give the required hardness, is the 
best for hardening. 

BEAR IN MIND, 

that for every variation of heat, which is great 
enough to be seen, there will result a varia'jton 
IN (;rain, which may be seen by breaking the 
piece ; and for every such variation in tempera- 
ture, there is a very good chance for a crack to 
be seen. Many a costly tool is ruined by inat- 
tention to this point. 

The effect of too high heat is to open the 
grain ; to make the steel coarse. 

The effect of an irregular heat is to cause 
irregular grain, irregular strains and cracks. 

As soon as the piece is properly heated for 

15 



HEATING 

hardening, it should be promptly and thoroughly 
quenched in plenty of the cooling medium, water, 
brine, or oil, as the case may be. 

An abundance of the cooling bath, to do the 
work quickly and uniformly all over, is ver^' nec- 
essary to good and safe work. 

To harden a large piece safely, a running 
stream should be used. 

Much uneven hardening is caused by the use 
of too small baths. 

For the third stage of heating, td^ temper, the 
first important requisite is again uniformity. 
The next is time. The more slowly a piece is 
brought down to its temper, the better and safer 
is the operation. 

When expensive tools, such as taps, rose cut- 
ters, etc., are to be made, it is a wise precaution, 
and one easily taken, to try small pieces of the 
steel at different temperatures, so as to find out 
how low a heat will give the necessary hardness. 
The lowest heat is the best for any steel, the test 
costs nothing, takes very little time, and very 
often saves considerable losses. 
i6 



TEMPER 

THE WORD temper, as used by the steel maker, 
indicates the amount of carbon in steel; thus, 
steel of high temper, is steel containing much car- 
bon; steel of low temper, is steel containing little 
carbon ; steel of medium temper, is steel contain- 
ing carbon between these limits, etc. , etc. Between 
the highest and the lowest we have some twenty 
divisions, each representing a definite content of 
carbon. 

As the temper of steel can only be observed 
in the ingot, it is not necessary to the needs of 
the trade to attempt any description of the mode 
of observation, especially as this is purely a mat- 
ter of education of the eye, onl}^ to be obtained by 
years of experience. 

Likewise, the quality of steel cannot be deter- 
mined from the appearance of the fracture of a 
bar as it comes from the hands of the manufac- 
turer. This appearance is determined, in the 

17 



TEMPER 

main, by the heat at which the bar is finished, 
and therefore one end of a long bar ( and espec- 
ially of a hammered bar ) may show a coarse, 
and the other end, a fine grain, where the whole 
bar will be well suited for the purpose intended. 
Two tools properly heated, forged and hardened 
(one from each end of such a bar) will, if broken, 
show fractures similar in color and grain. 

The act of tempering steel is the act of giv- 
ing to a piece of steel, after it has been shaped, 
the hardness necessary for the work*'it has to do. 
This is done by first hardening the piece, gener- 
ally a good deal harder than is necessary, and 
then toughening it by slow heating and gradual 
softening until it is just right for work. 

A piece of steel properly tempered should 

ALWAYS be FINER in CRAIN THAN THE BAR FROM 

WHICH I'J' IS NL\nE. If it is necessary, in order to 
make the piece as hard as is required, to heat it 
so hot that after being hardened it will be as 
coarse, or coarser in grain than the bar, then the 
steel itself is of too low temper for the desired 
work. In a case of this kind, the steel maker should 
i8 



TEMPER 

at once be notified of the fact, and could imme- 
diately correct the trouble by furnishing- higher 
steel. 

Sometimes an effort is made to harden fine 
steel without removing ( by grinding or other 
method) the scale formed in rolling, hammering 
or annealing. The result will generally be dis- 
appointing, as steel which would harden through 
such a coating would be of too high temper 
where the scale was removed. 

This surface scale is necessarily of irregular 
thickness and density, is oxide of iron — not steel 
— and therefore will not harden, and is to a cer- 
tain extent a bad conductor of heat. It should 
therefore be removed in every case to insure the 
best results. 

If a great degree of hardness is not desired, as 
in the case of taps, and most tools of complicated 
form, and it is found that at a moderate heat the 
tools are too hard and are liable to crack, the 
smith should first use a lower heat in order to save 
the tools already made, and then notify the steel 
tnaker that his steel is too high, so as to prevent a 
19 



TEMPER 

recurrence of the trouble. In all cases where steel 
is used in large quantities for the same purpose, as 
in the making of axes, springs, forks, etc., there is 
very little difficulty about temper, because, after 
one or two trials, the steel maker learns what his 
customer requires and can always furnish it to him. 

In large, general works, however, such as a 
rolling mill and nail factory, or large machine 
works, or large railroad shops, both the maker 
and worker of the steel labor under great disad- 
vantages from want of a mutual understanding. 

The steel maker receives his order and fills the 
sizes, of tempers best adapted to general work, 
and the smith usually tries to harden all tools at 
about the same heat. The steel maker is right, be- 
cause he is afraid to make the steel too high or 
too low for fear it will not suit, and so he gives 
an average adapted to the size of the bar. 

The smith is right, because he is generally the 
most hurried and crowded man about the estab- 
lishment. He must forge a tap for this man, a 
cold nail knife for that one, and a lathe cutter for 
another, and so on ; and each man is in a hurry. 
20 



TEMPER 

Under these circumstances he cannot be ex- 
pected to stop and test ever}^ piece of steel he 
uses, and find out exactly at what heat it will 
harden best and refine properly. 

He needs steel that will all harden properly 
at the same heat, and this he usually gets from 
the general practice among steel makers of mak- 
ing each bar of a certain temper, according to 
its size. 

But if it should happen that he were caught 
with only one bar of say inch and a quarter oc- 
tagon, and three men shotild come in a hurry, one 
for a tap, another for a punch, and another for a 
chilled roll plug, he would find it very difficult to 
make one bar of steel answer for all of these pur- 
poses, even if it were of the very best quality. 

The chances are that he would make one good 
tool and two bad tools ; and when the steel maker 
came around to inquire, he would find one friend 
and two enemies, and the smith puzzled and in 
doubt. 

There is a perfectly easy and simple way to 
avoid all of this trouble ; and that is, to write 

21 



TEMPER 

after each size the purpose for which it is wanted, 
as, for instance : Track tools, smith tools, lathe 
tools, taps, dies, cold nail knives, cold nail dies, 
hot nails, hot or cold punches, shear knives, etc. 
etc. This gives very little trouble in making the 
order, and it is the greatest relief to the steel 
maker. It is his delight to get hold of such an 
order, for he knows that when it is filled he will 
hardly ever hear a complaint. 

Every steel maker worthy of the name knows 
exactly what temper to provide for any tool, or if 
it is a new case, one or two trials are enough to 
inform him, and as he always should have twenty 
odd tempers on hand, it is just as easy — and far 
more satisfactory to both parties — to have it made 
right as to have it made wrong. 

For these reasons we urge all persons to spec- 
ify the work the steel is to do, then the smith can 
harden all tools at about the same heat, and he 
will not be annoyed by complaints, or hints that 
he does not do his work well. 



22 



FURNACES 

\ ^ 7E present sketches of a cheap and handy 
furnace for use in a blacksmith's shop, 
adapted especially for heating steel, and more par- 
ticularly for heating steel for hardening. 

The furnace is so simple that the sketches need 
no explanation ; for binders, ten pieces of old rail 
about six feet long with one end set in the ground, 
and the tops tied by |-in. rods are all that is nec- 
essary, with a piece of iron about 3x| in. running 
aroundnearthetop,and setin flush with thebricks. 

The distinctive features of this furnace are the 
fire bed and a good damper on the stack. In an 
experience of many years we have found nothing 
better than the Tupper grate bar with half-inch 
openings. These bars set in as shown make a 
level, permanent bed, and give an evenly distrib- 
uted supply of air to the fuel. In such a furnace 
as this, one set of bars will last for years and 
remain level. 

While on the subject of grate bars we may as 
well say that the satisfactory and safe working 
of this furnace would be entirely defeated by any 
23 



FURNACES 



A 




B 
END VIEW 



(uUU-yJ- 



5cale : ,1 = I foot. 

Stack: i?'to2o'hi^h. 



24 



FURNACES 

SECTION:A.B. 









25 



FURNACES 

attempt to use either square wrought iron bars 
or ordinary straight cast iron bars. Such bars 
always warp, get pushed out of place, and allow 
a rush of air through at one place, and no air 
at another. This causes hot and cold places in 
the furnace and produces uneven heating, which 
is the chief source of cracking in hardening; more- 
over, the air rushing through the large holes will 
burn the steel. A bar must be used which will 
remain level and in its place, and the smaller 
and more numerous the openings are, the better 
will be the result. 

Clean, hard coke is the only proper fuel for such 
a furnace and for such work. The furnace should 
be filled full up to the fore plate; or better, a little 
higher — with coke in pieces no larger than an 
ordinary man's fist — but the smaller the better. 

When it is used for heating for forging pur- 
poses, the damper may be left high enough to run 
the furnace as hot as may be required — if neces- 
sary, a welding heat can be obtained. 

When used for hardening, the furnace should 
be got as hot as is needed before the steel is put 
26 



FURNACES 

into it; then when the steel is put in, the damper 
should be dropped down tight. 

The door, which is 12 in. high and 24 in. wide, 
should be nicely balanced by a lever and weight, 
with a rod in a handy place so that the operator 
can pull it up easily and turn over his pieces from 
time to time, so as to get his heat perfectly uniform. 

In the clear gas of a coke fire, the whole interior 
of a furnace can be seen easily, and every piece 
can be watched as it ought to be. Time, care, watch- 
fulness and absolute uniformity of heat are the 
essentials necessary for success in hardening steel. 

Every large shop should have such a furnace, 
and should have one man trained to its use, to do 
the hardening and tempering for the whole shop. 
Such a furnace in the hands of a careful man in 
any railroad shop in the country would pay for 
itself every year and savetheman's wages besides. 

The furnace will consume very little coke at 
any time, and when not in use, with the damper 
down, it will stay hot a long time and waste the 
coke but a trifle. 

There is no more absurd nor wasteful system 
27 



FURNACES 

than that of requiring a smith at his anvil to 
harden and temper his work. His fire is not fit 
to heat in, to begin with, and he never has time 
to do his work properly if it were. 

From such a furnace as is here described, we 
harden all sorts of tools: taps, small dies, large 
rolls, rotary shear knives, and shear knives as 
large as five feet long, which is the whole length 
of the furnace. 

The tempered steel which is best is that which 
is the finest in the grain and the strongest. The 
best way to test both grain and strength is to ham- 
mer out a piece to about i^xl^ in., a foot or so in 
length, and temper to a high blue or pigeon 
wing, and when cold to break it off in little pieces 
with a hand hammer. 

A little practice will soon enable a man to de- 
termine, first, wh'ether he heated his piece to just 
the right point. The file and the appearance of the 
grain will determine this point. Next, when a lit- 
tle experience as to heat has been gained, he will 
know by the strength and grain whether his steel 
is really good, or whether it is "dry" and poor. 
28 



1 



FINALLY 

The art of working^ steel can be acquired 
only by intelligent application. 

Some will never learn, and others seem to be 
imbued with the idea that twenty or thirty years' 
practice must necessarily qualify them as ex- 
perts. In point of fact something new can be 
learned every day, and he is wise who will lay 
aside prejudice and change his mind whenever 
occasion requires it. 

We, as manufacturers, are always pleased to 
have Steel Workers visit us, and see for them- 
selves the care and attention given to the work- 
ing of steel in every department. 

Crescent Steel Co. 



29 



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